Introducing 2 Male Chinchillas

[pinkpiggy1989]

I got my first chin about 4 years ago, give or take a year. The girl I got him from had just gotten a puppy and no longer wanted him or his cage mate, I believe it was a spayed female? She said she had only had them for about 6 months. So I believe hes roughly 5-6 years. So I took him, and her cousin took the female.

Hes been the only chin for the 4 years that I've had him, and I've recently gotten a second male chin. How would I go about introducing them? I have them in a Ferret Nation 142 and have it divided. Bentley seems more than willing to get to know Beebo, but Beebo doesn't seem to like the idea very much. Whenever I hold Bentley to the cage, Beebo sticks his nose out and tries to grab him with his paws and nip him.

I let them run on the floor and Beebo chased Bentley around the room at full speed. I dont think he really nipped him or anything, almost looked like he was trying to mount him? Then they were sniffing faces and it looked like Beebo tried biting his nose. But there was alot of fur flying around, so I separated them and put them back in their cages. Then when I let them out again later, they never bothered each other, just kept their distance.

Bentley is more than willing to be buddies, but what can I do to help Beebo learn that hes a friend? I know it takes time to properly introduce chins, so I'm not expecting anything overnight. I just want to make sure I'm taking the proper steps.

 

[Laurie]

You need to take things slow. Offer playtime regularly and keep a close eye on them. As they are already in a divided FN you can't really put them side by side. When putting them together in the same cage before hand clip whiskers on both of them and put a dab of baking vanilla on butts and noses. Whenever they are together never leave them alone. It's normal to see kacking and mounting but if you see fighting where blood is drawn they need to be separated. It's also common to see toes bit and ears bit but again if it escalates they need to be separated.

 

[pinkpiggy1989]

When putting them together in the same cage before hand clip whiskers on both of them

What does this do? And how short should I clip them?

 

[pinkpiggy1989]

And for the record, Bentley is ABSOLUTELY fine with being pals. Its Beebo that keeps trying to hump and chase him.

 

[greychins]

Clipping the whiskers helps with dominance issues. Sometimes you'll see in a cage the dominant chin has huuuuuge long whiskers and the not-so-dominant ones get their whiskers bit off by the dominant one. Long whiskers = dominant. Neither has much in terms of whiskers... not so much. I clip so they're maybe half an inch long?

Humping and chasing can/may happen somewhat with chins, even ones that get along, in the beginning, they just need to establish who's dominant...